02/18/12 BEWARE THE HYPE
How sad that sinning religion is being paraded before the world as Christianity. If there is one thing you learn from the way funerals are preached, it appears that no one goes to hell. The truth is, no one needs to go to hell, but the life of sin terminates in hell. Turn, trust and follow Jesus.
Sinning religion gives a pass to sinners, to sin.
The preacher cannot preach a sinner into heaven or a saint into hell, and he should not try. The funeral is an opportunity to encourage the family and show them the only way to heaven is a living faith in Jesus Christ.
I wrote this in response to the hype surrounding the death and funeral of Whitney Houston. Miss Houston had been raised in the church, which gave rise to everyone at her funeral speaking as if she was now singing in heaven's choir. I don't know the spiritual condition of Miss Houston at the moment of her death, so I do not know her eternal destiny. However, she lived her life in resistance to the Lordship of Christ and her life became a sad story of abuse and addiction. In other words, she was not a Christian during her life and therefore did not have the promise of eternal life.
Just today (March 4th, 2012) I was reading a post by my son, recollecting what John Lennon had said in 1966, concerning the Beatles being more popular than Jesus Christ. David went on to point out that a billion people will gather today (2012) to worship Christ, but John Lennon is still dead, having been killed by one of his fans. David pointed out that Lennon does not have to imagine what waits beyond the grave.
Someone responded to David's post by saying J. Lennon did not say he was better or superior to Christ; Lennon was only making comment on pop culture and religion.
I then said; since J. L. continued to reject Jesus Christ, he actually did think he was better than and superior to Christ.
The person then said she did not know if J. L. loved Christ or not.
This brings me back to this article. Yes, we can tell if a person loves Jesus or not. Jesus said, if you love me you will keep my commandments. Since John Lennon and Whitney Houston lived their lives disobeying Christ, then we can say, they did not love Christ during their lives.
Sinning religion is the enemy of God's truth and man's soul.
Upward and Onward in Jesus,
Pastor David L. Gould
